1. Field of Invention
The present invention is directed to a method, apparatus, and system related to emergency notification services.
2. Description of the Background
In today""s society, there are increasing numbers of people who work at locations other than their homes. In many instances, there are young children who spend considerable amounts of time at home without adult supervision while their parents are working. Such situations can be very stressful to a working parent because of the uncertainty of knowing exactly what the unsupervised children may be doing. There are also a growing number of people who have elderly parents living alone. Understandably, there are many people who, for various reasons, desire to be notified as soon as possible if an emergency call is placed from a location that concerns them, and also wish to be connected to the person who placed the emergency call.
One service that has attempted to address this desire is the family 911 notification service offered by Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, N.J. Each subscriber to the service may select up to five telephone numbers, each associated with a particular person, that they wish to be called if a 911 call is placed from a landline telephone associated with the subscriber. The selected telephone numbers may be given a priority from first to fifth and may be associated with landline telephones and/or wireless telephones. The service operates in the manner described hereinbelow.
After a 911 call has been placed from a landline telephone associated with a subscriber, the service calls the selected telephone numbers in a sequential order according to the specified priority. If the family 911 notification service reaches a live person at one of the selected telephone numbers, the service plays an announcement. The announcement informs the person that the incoming call is from the family 911 notification service and that a 911 call was placed. The announcement also informs the person as to the time that the 911 call was placed and the telephone number that the 911 call was placed from. If the service reaches a live person after more than five minutes have passed since the 911 call was placed, the live person may be given the option to connect with the landline telephone from which the 911 call was placed. The service stops calling the selected telephone numbers once the information has been provided to a live person. If the service has not reached a live person after all of the selected telephone numbers have been called, the service waits for five minutes before beginning to call the selected telephone numbers again. This process repeats itself for the first hour following the placement of the 911 call. During the first hour, if the service reaches an answering machine or a voice mail system at one of the selected telephone numbers, the service does not play an announcement.
If the service has not reached a live person within the first hour, the service continues to call the selected telephone numbers according to the specified priority. However, if the service reaches an answering machine or a voice mail system after the first hour, the service plays a slightly different announcement. This announcement informs the answering machine or voice mail system that the incoming call is from the family 911 notification service and that the service has been trying to reach the person associated with the selected telephone number to notify them that a 911 call has been placed. This announcement also informs the answering machine or the voice mail system as to the time that the 911 call was placed and the telephone number from which the 911 call was placed. The service stops dialing the selected telephone numbers once an announcement has been played to an answering machine or a voice mail system. If the service has not reached a live person, an answering machine, or a voice mail system within the first twenty-four hours following the placement of the 911 call, the service stops dialing the selected telephone numbers.
There are shortcomings associated with Lucent""s family 911 notification service. For example, if the service reaches a live person within the first five minutes following the placement of a 911 call, the live person is not given the option to connect to the landline telephone from which a 911 call was placed. In many situations where time is of the essence, a notified party may wish to be connected to the landline telephone as soon as possible. In addition, when the live person is given the option of connecting to the landline phone, there are no assurances that accepting that option will not interrupt the 911 call itself. Thus, there exists a need for a method, apparatus, and system that overcomes the limitations, shortcomings, and disadvantages of the emergency notification service described hereinabove.
The present invention meets the identified need, as well as other needs, as will be more fully understood following a review of this specification and the accompanying drawings. The present invention relates to a method for establishing a connection between first and second communication devices. The method includes receiving notification that an emergency communication was terminated, transmitting a message to the second communication device, wherein the message includes a voice prompt for connecting to the first communication device, receiving a response to the voice prompt, and completing the connection between first and second communication devices.